Fans of Max Roach drumming up support to rename Bed-Stuy street after genre-busting jazz great

The fan-fueled beat is growing louder for the renaming of a Bedford-Stuyvesant street to honor legendary jazz drummer Max Roach.

Nearly 3,000 supporters of the adventurous bebop percussionist already signed a change.org petition in support of the tribute for native son Roach, who spent his childhood in the Brooklyn neighborhood and returned often before his 2007 death.

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“Brooklyn had one of the largest black communities and you also had homeowners,” his daughter Dara Roach told the Daily News. “You had a lot of people who were able to do a lot of different things, like be musicians, so he always came back — not only to support the neighborhood, but to support young musicians and young artists.”

Dara Roach discuses a Change.org petition that wants to change the name of Monroe St. and name it after jazz drumming legend Max Roach. (Byron Smith for New York Daily News)

The groundbreaking Roach played with a who’s who of jazz geniuses, starting as a teen with saxophonist Charlie (Bird) Parker in a Harlem after-hours club. He joined Duke Ellington’s orchestra before collaborating with the more daring players: Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins.

Roach drummed for Miles Davis on the seminal “Birth of the Cool” sessions in 1949-50. And he never considered the drums as a complementary instrument, but as an equal of any other instrument in the band — a radical thought in the ‘40s and ‘50s.

Dara’s brother Raoul expressed his support for the effort to pay homage to their dad.

“Thank you to everyone and to the organizers of this petition!” he wrote on the change.org page. “He was a son of Brooklyn through and through and proud of the borough that formed him from Concord Baptist Church to Boys High School. BedStuy Do or Die!”

His daughter recalled that Roach, who died at age 83, felt a lifelong tug from the streets of his youth. He was friendly with Bed-Stuy rappers in the 1980s, including his godson: MTV host Fab Five Freddy.

“What he loved about hip-hop and the black community in Bed-Stuy…is that they have to make something out of nothing,” explained Dara Roach. “That’s essentially what jazz is. It’s not classical music. But it’s the original American music.”

Roach was just 8 years old when he first started playing piano, and he switched to the drums a few years later. The precocious percussion player became a well-known music figure before his 20th birthday, eventually finding his own way by redefining both the parameters of jazz drumming and jazz itself.

Organizers of the street renaming effort recalled that Roach’s talent was cultivated at the Concord Baptist Church on Marcy Ave. and he attended Boys High School across the street. Dana Roach noted that her dad grew up nearby at 385 Monroe St. — making both possible locations for a renaming.

“He grew up in the band at the church,” Dara said. “Each church had a big marching band, and that’s where he learned to really hone his skills as a young drummer.”

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The signees plan to take their effort to Community Board 3 in Brooklyn for its approval.

“I feel confident about his legacy and this street is a testament to that,” said Dara as she stood outside the entrance to her father’s old building. “To think about all the people who passed through this entryway is crazy to me.”